OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A Barnard Construction Co. supervisor visited the North Olympic Peninsula earlier this month as the Bozeman, Mont., firm continued preparations for tearing down the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams.
“We were meeting with potential subcontractors and vendors and different things like that, and looking for places to live,” said Project Manager Brian Krohmer, who was in Port Angeles on Jan. 12-13.
The company also has begun seeking housing for the Montana employees who will be among the 40 to 50 workers the National Park Service has estimated will be needed for the project, Krohmer said.
The number of employees who will tear down the dams at any given time “will fluctuate depending on what exactly is going on,” Krohmer said.
They will begin bringing down the 108-foot Elwha Dam beginning Sept. 15.
Barnard has until mid-September 2014 to complete the project, Krohmer and Olympic National Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said.
Dismantling of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, which is eight miles up river from the lower dam, will begin later, but before the Elwha Dam is completely torn down.
The $351.4 million project, which is intended to restore salmon runs, is the largest of its kind in the nation’s history.
Asked Wednesday if the tear-down project, which was first scheduled to begin in 2004, remains on schedule, Maynes said there is “no doubt” Barnard Construction employees will begin the project in less than eight months, on Sept. 15.
Krohmer does not know how many local employees will be hired and how many will be from Montana, but he said that the company will employ local craftspeople and subcontractors, adding that the company is committed to supporting local businesses.
Barnard’s mix of employees will depend on the workload and the availability of local workers, Krohmer said.
Jobs will be welcome on the North Olympic Peninsula, where Clallam County’s jobless rate rose from 9.7 percent in November to 10.1 percent in December, while Jefferson County’s rate increased to 9.2 in December from 9.1 in November.
In comparison, Gallatin County, where Bozeman is the county seat, had a November unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. Figures for December will be available this week.
Dam-removal employees will be paid prevailing wages under the federal Davis-Bacon Act, Samantha Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Park Service’s Denver Service Center, said in an earlier interview.
Hourly wages will include $31.97 to $35.79 for power equipment operators, $35.39 for carpenters and $40.81 for electricians, she said.
Most Barnard employees will find housing on their own, Krohmer said.
“We have contacted some Realtors and have done some looking around,” he said.
Stephanie Bonine, a marketing coordinator with James & Associates property management in Port Angeles, said a company representative contacted her about three weeks ago, before Krohmer was in town.
The Barnard employee asked about “four or five guys needing properties,” but the company did not get back to her, she said Wednesday.
Terry James, owner-broker of James & Associates, said Wednesday his agency has already found places for workers employed by other construction companies engaged in different aspects of the river restoration project.
Companies typically put three or four “upper-echelon” employees in one house rather than rack up long-term hotel bills, James said.
“They will spend money in stores, on clothing, and that’s good, but we won’t see a huge impact on the housing market,” he added.
No one from Barnard has contacted Landmark Property Management, Assistant Property Manager Saavik Pritchett said Wednesday.
The company also has yet to decide exactly how each dam will be torn down.
That will occur later this spring, when Barnard starts submitting construction planning documents to the National Park Service, which is coordinating the Elwha River Restoration Project.
The federal government owns both dams, although the lower dam is outside Olympic National Park boundaries. Since the Elwha River begins inside the park, and the Glines Canyon Dam is within its boundaries, the National Park Service has control over the entire project.
Last August, Barnard was awarded a $26.9 million contract to tear down the dams in a comparatively small but hugely visible part of the river restoration project, which is intended to restore the Elwha River’s salmon habitat.
Spawning runs have been reduced from 400,000 fish before the dams were completed — the Elwha Dam in 1913, the Glines Canyon Dam in 1927 — to today’s minuscule run of 3,000.
Fish ladders and a hatchery built after the dams were constructed did little to replenish the stock, and the 1992 Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act mandated their purchase by the federal government to replenish the river’s fishery.
________
Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
